Out for lunch .........

Yum Cha plays a big part in Australian/Chinese family life,

each weekend you will see large family groups entering their favourite restaurant for lunch.

We are no different,a visit from Grandfather was a great excuse to get everyone together and go for Yum Cha.

Trouble was , it had to be accessible for "Rinso" and me, not an easy task, as the better the restaurant, the more crowded they are!

Everyone uses chopsticks, except me, as I no longer have the dexterity in my hands to manage!

Indie has been using them since she started using a spoon and fork on her own.

Her first pair were the ones her mother had when she was a toddler, they were made of ivory, and had her name engraved in the end. 

Now my grand children  have pretty plastic ones with pictures, definitely not ivory.

I had to enlarge this picture, the fried tofu with pepper and chillies looked so beautiful.

And as you can see, it obviously tasted good too!

No Yum Cha would be complete for my grand children without "egg tarts",

these ones were  tiny, with very flaky pastry,

and so delicious that there were none left to take home.

Yum cha was a great end to Grandfather's visit, 

funny thing is -- I am the Grandmother!!!

Until next time --- Happy Days!

Puppy Love ..........

I was looking through Jessika's photos yesterday

and came across a whole file of

Nacho pics that I hadn't seen before.

She loves Indie and spends a lot of time,

trying to get her attention.

The favourite way is to sit up on her solid little bottom and wave her little teddy bear feet in the air.

It works every time!

Until next time --- Happy Days!

The family is growing .......

My family is growing bigger and bigger, 

first Gabe and Indie moved in

and now we have the "piggies" as well.

Actually they are not really pigs, 

they are Indie's Guinea pigs.

This is Kiki, she is brown and white and decidedly plump!

This is Ginger, she is sort of "champagne" colour

with ruby red eyes 

and a dash of ginger near her mouth.

When the girls first arrived, their run was placed in the quiet corner of the garden.

Now they have moved on to the patio 

and their cage has grown in size.

Nacho and I like them on the patio because we can see them better.

Kiki and Nacho are fascinated with each other,

they sit at the wire kissing,

infact if Nacho goes outside and doesnt say "hello", Kiki starts yelling at the top of her voice.

I love little piggies, 

when my daughters were young, we had 43,

I dont know how I coped!They were everywhere, 

thank goodness we had a big garden.

We had all sorts of sizes and colours. 

even I had one,

it had such long hair that it had to be rolled up in tin foil!

Guinea pigs make wonderful pets for children, 

they certainly learn about "the birds and bees"!

And the responsibility of caring for something that is totally dependant.

Twenty five years has past and they are back, 

I hope this does not mean that the ducks, chooks and sheep are still to come, my garden is too

SMALL!!!

Until next time --- Happy Days!

The colours of winter ..............

Winter in Melbourne, with its grey skies and drizzling rain can be a miserable place, 
but when I look around my garden I find colours both warm and bright,
or soft and cool.
Interesting shapes and textures are found in the strangest places. 

See these Bell Peppers,

dont they make you warm just looking at them.

A Sasanqua Camelia,probably the most common of our winter flowers.

Look at the delicate colours and fluted petals.

A tiny spiders web,

caught in the rays of the early sun.

Even plants that have finished flowering 

can be beautiful,

 if you look carefully.

The colours and textures of winter flowers 

are so varied,

compare this bloom,

with this,

or even this humble Pelagonium,

they are all wonderful, in their own ways.

Rug up, forget the cold, 

go and look at a garden

with open eyes 

and enjoy what you see.

Until next time --- Happy days!

The joy of Bike Paths .........

As I said in my previous post, I love the bike paths.

Hopefully these pictures will show why.

I think the look on my face shows how much I don't like travelling on the train. 

It is fine when there are no other passengers, but if it is football season it can be a real bun fight.

Meet Manda, she is clever enough to ride straight,

watch  for bumps and keep an eye on me, all at the same time,

not an easy thing to do.

As you can see, not all paths are smooth, that is part of the challenge of the ride.

Sometimes there is no path at all, then we have real fun because I have no idea what is under the grass!!

I love it when the path goes under the freeway,

the noise of the traffic can be really weird, 
especially if you are in a tunnel as well.

The next few photos show the beauty of various paths.

 Not every path is through the bush.

The next photo is taken at South Bank,

we sneaked over this bridge before it was officially opened!!

Great architecture!!

If you are out on a cold winters day

                               this is what you might meet -----

SCARY!!!!!!!!

A typical bike path lunch --

cheese, tomatoes, feta cheese, mushrooms,

olives, salami and mountain bread.

We don't starve!!

This is the control panel on my chair,

if you look carefully, you will see that I have done 12.9klms,

this is the longest distance I have done on a bike path.

It is not very far and it is causing a big problem for me.

I will talk about it at a later date.

I hope you have enjoyed these photos, 
I think they show what a beautiful state we live in.

Until next time --- Happy Days

What do I do all day ?

I am often asked by people, who do not know me,what do I do all day.

I think the perception is , if you live in a chair, you just sit and gaze out the window.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
I think I am more active now than before I became disabled.
Sometimes I wonder, if I am trying to prove something to my self!!!

The photo shows my friend Manda and I ready to tackle one of Melbourne's bike paths.
They are one of the little known joys of the city,
if you are a "wheelie" anyway.
There are bike paths all round the metropolitan area,
and even better ones across the whole state.
The strangest thing is, that in all the outings Manda and I have done, we have never met another wheelie!

Some of the paths follow the creeks and rivers
that surround Melbourne,
these are the ones I love the most, because they are often so beautiful.

I get very sad when we come to an area where the creek is choked with old cars and other rubbish,
fortunately this is becoming rarer,
people are starting to realise how precious our waterways are.

I wouldn't like you to think I travel sedately on these paths,
far from it,
this is the one time I can let my self go,and pretend I am riding my old motor bike.
Rinso wont do 100mph,
actually he will only do 12.5k down hill, with a tail wind!!!
but it doesn't matter,
the wind still pushes against my face and blows my hair back
-- wonderful.

Sad thing [for me] is,
Manda is going to Fiji for 12 months, to work in a school for disabled children,
I am very happy about that,
BUT
Manda, I will miss you, and our adventures!

Well, that is the first of my "activities",
I wonder which one I shall write about next

Until next time --- Happy Days

Invisible?

`Can YOU see the picture above?
You can?
well why is it, when I am outside my gate, I become invisible!!
My chair weights about 150kilos and I am no fairy.
So why can no one see me!!

I thought the big flowers and the Tweety Bird hat might help, but they dont.
Yesterday I was sauntering down the street [ 5.4kph],
thankfully watching where I was going.
Suddenly a lady walks out of the shop next to me,
I slam on my brakes to avoid her,
she gives me a filthy look and proceeds to walk slowly along right in front of me.
Six paces more, then she stops and starts walking backwards!!!

Just as well my brakes are good and I am constantly on my guard, she could have had very sore ankles.

This sort of thing happens all the time, everywhere I go.

I have even had people try to climb over the arms of my chair to get infront of me.
Sometimes I wish I had a 240v. cattle prod, it might work,
probably be had up for assault, knowing my luck!!!!

It is still freezing in Melbourne so -------

Until next time --- Happy Days

Can I paint? .............................

Can I paint? Well, I would like to!

but there are a couple of small problems to overcome first,
I dont see very well,
my hand won't hold a brush and it locks on me!

Anne Rigg's comment --
"Don't worry about how you can manage, we both know you will."
That is a quote from Anne's email,
with that faith how can I possibly fail!

Anne is the artist who runs the art classes, she has done some wonderful work about grief in relation to W.W.1,
more about that another time.

As you can see by the photo, we have overcome all the obsticles except my hand locking.

I do not think I am going to be a great painter but I really enjoy looking at the colours and shapes of what I am painting.

Thank goodness for big brushes, they hide a lot of mistakes,
I do get frustrated when my brush goes in a totally different direction to what I want!!
As I keep reminding myself ---
"having a disability teaches you to be patient"
The trouble is, I am a slow learner.

Last lesson we were learning how to make an orange and coffee pot sit on a table.
I was fascinated with the pot, it had so many interesting shapes and colours, my idea is above.
Well actually it was my hands idea,
I had something slightly different in mind!

Maybe next week my hand will do as it is told,
we are going to look at details in nature.
I know I am going to enjoy that, small details fascinate me,
I think it is because they are such a challenge to see!

Until next time ---- Happy Days

How I hate these days -----

I really hate this weather, Its cold, windy and miserable. The other day I went for a walk, when I started out it was sunny, but by the time I was on the way back the sky was black.

Stupid me, didn't take any notice of the storm warning did I!!!

One minute I am dreaming along, the next, there is an almighty gust of wind which caught under my tray and I am slammed against the fence.

I guess I was lucky it hadn't blown me onto the road, gave me a fright though, AND I lost my big black glasses!!!! The weather makes me wish I was in "respite",
that is the five days a year when Jess gets a break from looking after me,
and I get a change of scenery.

I used to hate respite because I would go into a nursing home.

Now I go to Phillip Island and stay at Alvina cottages which has been purpose built for people with a disability.

The photo shows me all rugged up enjoying a visit to Churchhill Island, a great place even on freezing days.

I love Phillip Island so much, I think I might write more about it another day.

Until next time --- Happy Days!

I've made it into print ! .......

Well, at last I have got something in to print!!

"Access Care Southern" is an agency that provides support for me to stay in my own home.
They put out a news letter each quarter and you guessed it, I have an article about my garden in the winter edition!!

I thought I would post it here, to show my feelings about my garden.
Here we go ................................

“To be a gardener you must be an eternal optimist,”

You drop a tiny seed into the ground and expect a beautiful tree to grow.”

Maybe not a mighty Oak, but at least a bean or a pansy!

My garden is very precious to me, and my daughters too,

because it keeps me out of their hair!

When I am out in my garden, I relax, except when chasing those dratted caterpillars.

My garden is nothing like the pictures in fancy magazines.

It is a happy jumble of everything that takes my fancy.

There are pumpkins and pansies, egg plants and geraniums, strawberries and chilies , and flowers of all different colours.

There are of course, my “special” plants, each one a living memory of my four- legged companions.

If you enter my garden, the first thing you notice, is nothing grows in the ground. Everything is in a container of some sort, standing on a milk crate, an old table, or even a kitchen chair.

I do have one beautiful galvanized planter, but the pumpkins and zucchinis do not want to stay in there, so now they ramble all over the ground, making friends with all the other plants.

My garden is also a magic place, ask my grandchildren, they will tell you.

We plant tiny a bean seed, in a few days a little leaf appears and in no time at all we are eating the sweetest beans you have ever tasted. It just has to be magic!

My garden is my refuge from the stresses of life!

There it is,

actually it was quite hard to put my feelings into words.

I love my garden, in all its seasons.

Until next time --- Happy Days!

Its getting colder in Melbourne, I hope more of my winter flowers will cheer you up.

Strange conversations .........

I know I seem to be talking a lot about disability at the present, BUT, sometimes strangers are very strange!
A while ago someone in a cafe came up to me and asked how I took a bath.
I should have said " I put it on wheels and tie it to the back of Rinso", but I didn't!
Last Friday I took my grand daughter to an appointment, when I picked her up the receptionist commented on my nice chair, that was fine,
however,the conversation then proceeded to get more and more crazy, ----
why do I need a chair?
why dont my legs work?
do I have MS?,
have I been like this all my life?
how long have you been sick?
so, if you haven't got MS, what is the matter with you?
I think I was incredibly patient and polite,
I felt like telling her to"piss off", but that would have been as rude as she was.
I really do not know why people think it is acceptable to ask me
[or anyone else], personal questions.
Just imagine if I walked up to someone in the street and asked them how they took a bath or went to the toilet!!!!
They would probably call the police!

Makes you think doesn't it.


It is winter in Melbourne and freezing cold so I have headed this post with a photo of a flower from my garden , to cheer us all up.


Until next time -- Happy Days